Bamboozled December 18, 2018: Naughty or nice? Here are the return policies for major retailers this holiday season

While you’re busy shopping for holiday gifts, we hope you’re also paying attention to return policies.

If you don’t know what a store’s policy is, your gift recipient may be very disappointed when trying to return that ugly sweater you bought.

According to Consumer World’s 15th annual survey of store return policies, a few prominent stores have tinkered with their policies, but most have stayed the same as last year.

“If shoppers follow the rules, they should have many happy returns,” said Edgar Dworsky, Consumer World’s founder. “But, since the rules vary so much from store to store, you really have to read the fine print.”

Among the highlights? Many retailers are continuing to offer extended holiday return windows, which allows gifts purchased in November to be returned until mid- to late-January, considerably beyond the normal return deadline in some cases, Dworsky said.

Not all good news

There are some lowlights, too.

Stores are also still “slicing and dicing” their return policies, creating complicated rules for different categories of items, Dworsky said.

Among the findings, electronic items may be subject to shorter return periods than items like clothing.

Opened goods or those missing original packaging may be subject to limited return rights or restocking fees, he said.

“Restrictions like these aim to reduce return fraud which is predicted to account for 10 percent of all returns this year – a one percentage point drop since 2017, according to the National Retail Federation,” Dworsky said. “And they predict 21 percent of unreceipted returns may be fraudulent.”

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Changes to note

Among the survey’s findings:

Amazon is now paying for return shipping on items purchased by voice using Alexa.

Walmart customers can now start their return on the Walmart app by scanning the receipt, and then finishing it in-store at the express lane.

Sears increased its return window to 45 days from 30 days for Shop Your Way members. They also tripled the return period for mattresses from 60 to 180 days.

Bed, Bath & Beyond dropped its no-time-limit return policy. Now it is one year.

Store brands at Target have a one-year return period; five years at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

At Saks Fifth Avenue, full price purchases returned after 30 days get current price only.

Some retailers require tags to remain on dresses and gowns to thwart “wardrobing.”

Without a receipt, Walmart gives customers the option of a cash refund (if the purchase was under $25), a gift card for the amount of the purchase (if it was over $25), or an even exchange. Walmart tracks returns in a database and may deny excessive or even any returns.

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Generous return policies

Some major retailers do have generous regular return or holiday return policies.

Here’s what Dworsky found for a dozen major chains, which collectively had 79 pages of return policies adding up to more than 31,000 words of fine print.

Target: 90 days most items. But 30 days for electronics and entertainment items, 15 days for most Apple items. Days begin Dec. 26 for these items purchased since Nov. 1. Stores brands – one year. May deny refund for opened/damaged/unreceipted items. REDcard holders get 30 extra days.